“Great people talk about ideas; ordinary people talk about things; small-minded people talk about other people”. – unknown
Goal: To understand how gossip is spread and it’s negative impact Time: 20-30 min
Materials: Glitter tube per group of 4-5 students (You will want to start the lesson inside (#1,2) , then go outside for the use of glitter)
Lesson: 1. Write the word gossip on the board. Ask students to define what it means (have a student record answers for the class to see)- discuss why it can be harmful. Gossip is casual talk about people and their personal affairs. Sounds kinda harmless, right? Well, there's good gossip - casual talk that provides useful information (Did you hear Sarah's mom is sick? We should give her a card) and bad gossip (OMG, did you see what Sarah is wearing? That outfit makes her look really fat/gross/slutty). Bad gossip is casual talk that is harmful, mean, and can destroy lives. What's The Harm With Gossip? It can ruin a good person's reputation. It can humiliate people. It can raise doubts and cause mistrust. It can destroy friendships. It can demean people. It can make public things that should have been kept private. It can cause low self-esteem. And if you're the one who's gossiping, you've also got some problems.
2. Activity: Break the class into groups of 4-5. Explain that you have a task for them to complete. The winning group will get a free Kona Ice at lunch. Inform them that their mission is to pass glitter from one person to the next, to all the individuals in their group, all the way down the line. However, in order to win the free Kona Ice, they must make sure that ALL the glitter gets from the first person in the group to the last one. NO spec of glitter is allowed to fall on the floor and absolutely no glitter can remain on their hands. They are not permitted to use water to wash their hands
3. Although it’s a competition, students still might take their time thinking they can do it. This is an impossible task. After 3-4 min, stop the competition, and let them know that no one won. Let them wipe/wash hands if you like, and come back inside for full group
4. Discussion: Why did no group win?
Explain that the reason for the activity is because glitter and gossip have a lot in common.
Ask students to identify how gossip is like glitter. Examples of student responses: it sticks with you, it's hard to get it off even if you really want it gone, it's hard to contain, it's easy for it to travel where you didn't intend, it can put the spotlight on someone who doesn't want the attention, it can seem really fun and sparkly but it turns into a big mess.
5. Read the following folklore:
There once was a young man who shared some gossip he heard about his neighbor to several people he came in contact with. Soon, because many people tell other people, the whole community had heard the rumor. Later, the young man who spread the gossip learned that the rumor was untrue. The young man was very sorry and went to an elder in the community who had a reputation for great wisdom to seek advice. The elder told the young man, “Go to your home and take a feather pillow outside. Rip it open and scatter the feathers, then return to me tomorrow.” The young man did as the elder had instructed. The next day, the young man visited the elder. The elder said, “Go and collect the feathers you scattered yesterday and bring them back to me.” The young man went home and searched for the feathers, but the wind had carried them all away. The young man returned to the elder and said, “I could find none of the feathers I scattered yesterday.” “You see,” said the elder, “it’s easy to scatter the feathers but impossible to get them back.” So it is with gossip; it doesn’t take much to spread hurtful words, but once you do, you can never completely undo the damage.
6. Discussion: Since gossip often involves information that isn't true, ask students whether it is always easy to tell if information is true or not. After listening to a few responses, tell students you are going to do an activity to test their hypotheses.
7. Activity:Tell the students that you are going to play a round of two truths and a lie. Have each student write two truths about themselves, and one lie. Make sure they mix up the order. Invite several students to the front of the room to read their truths/lies to the rest of the class and have the class vote on the lie. At the end, review whether it was as easy as they thought to detect the lies
8. Action: As the 8th grade class at iMiddle, what can we do to stop gossip and rumors in our school? Use the padlet below to share your ideas. These will be shared with the whole school in posters and during our Advisory lessons http://padlet.com/krozsnyoi/goodbyegossip
Goal: To understand how gossip is spread and it’s negative impact
Time: 20-30 min
Materials: Glitter tube per group of 4-5 students
(You will want to start the lesson inside (#1,2) , then go outside for the use of glitter)
Lesson:
1. Write the word gossip on the board. Ask students to define what it means (have a student record answers for the class to see)- discuss why it can be harmful.
Gossip is casual talk about people and their personal affairs. Sounds kinda harmless, right? Well, there's good gossip - casual talk that provides useful information (Did you hear Sarah's mom is sick? We should give her a card) and bad gossip (OMG, did you see what Sarah is wearing? That outfit makes her look really fat/gross/slutty).
Bad gossip is casual talk that is harmful, mean, and can destroy lives.
What's The Harm With Gossip?
It can ruin a good person's reputation.
It can humiliate people.
It can raise doubts and cause mistrust.
It can destroy friendships.
It can demean people.
It can make public things that should have been kept private.
It can cause low self-esteem.
And if you're the one who's gossiping, you've also got some problems.
2. Activity: Break the class into groups of 4-5. Explain that you have a task for them to complete. The winning group will get a free Kona Ice at lunch. Inform them that their mission is to pass glitter from one person to the next, to all the individuals in their group, all the way down the line. However, in order to win the free Kona Ice, they must make sure that ALL the glitter gets from the first person in the group to the last one. NO spec of glitter is allowed to fall on the floor and absolutely no glitter can remain on their hands. They are not permitted to use water to wash their hands
3. Although it’s a competition, students still might take their time thinking they can do it. This is an impossible task. After 3-4 min, stop the competition, and let them know that no one won. Let them wipe/wash hands if you like, and come back inside for full group
4. Discussion: Why did no group win?
5. Read the following folklore:
There once was a young man who shared some gossip he heard about his neighbor to several people he came in contact with. Soon, because many people tell other people, the whole community had heard the rumor. Later, the young man who spread the gossip learned that the rumor was untrue. The young man was very sorry and went to an elder in the community who had a reputation for great wisdom to seek advice. The elder told the young man, “Go to your home and take a feather pillow outside. Rip it open and scatter the feathers, then return to me tomorrow.” The young man did as the elder had instructed. The next day, the young man visited the elder. The elder said, “Go and collect the feathers you scattered yesterday and bring them back to me.” The young man went home and searched for the feathers, but the wind had carried them all away. The young man returned to the elder and said, “I could find none of the feathers I scattered yesterday.” “You see,” said the elder, “it’s easy to scatter the feathers but impossible to get them back.” So it is with gossip; it doesn’t take much to spread hurtful words, but once you do, you can never completely undo the damage.
6. Discussion: Since gossip often involves information that isn't true, ask students whether it is always easy to tell if information is true or not. After listening to a few responses, tell students you are going to do an activity to test their hypotheses.
7. Activity:Tell the students that you are going to play a round of two truths and a lie. Have each student write two truths about themselves, and one lie. Make sure they mix up the order. Invite several students to the front of the room to read their truths/lies to the rest of the class and have the class vote on the lie. At the end, review whether it was as easy as they thought to detect the lies
8. Action: As the 8th grade class at iMiddle, what can we do to stop gossip and rumors in our school? Use the padlet below to share your ideas. These will be shared with the whole school in posters and during our Advisory lessons http://padlet.com/krozsnyoi/goodbyegossip